I’m currently the “subject matter expert” on a nightmare project by having been exposed to it the most without going mad.

Life is a series of compromises.

Keep in mind Freelancer was released after Microsoft acquired Roberts’ company, kicked him out of a leadership role, and drastically slashed the scope.

Star Citizen is what happens when there is nobody above Roberts to say no, and now after years plenty of people under him with an interest in keeping the development churning.

People are buying the dream. There is personal investment now- this isn’t a game, this is their game. Supporters tend to talk like this is a community project, not a transaction between a customer and a studio.

Whenever the studio finally folds, I guarantee there will be whales lamenting that if they’d only spent a little more they’d have kept the game afloat.

The “lawyer dog” case did not hinge on that.

The suspect,Warren Demesme, did not unequivocally demand a lawyer. He said: “If y’all, this is how I feel, if y’all think I did it, I know that I didn’t do it so why don’t you just give me a lawyer dog cause this is not whats up.”

The finding was that he asked a question rather than making a statement. The “dog” was completely irrelevant in the decision, but you know Internet pop news sites are going to be Internet pop news sites.

You can still think the outcome was expecting too much precision by a suspect and disagree with it, but let’s at least be accurate in criticism/discussion instead of perpetuating meme tier inaccuracy.

The knowledge of the location of the paper is a content of the mind. The defendant does not have to answer any question.

A person is free to not answer any question. They can sit there completely silent.

Or contents of a piece of paper.

In the context of the discussion, I don’t know what you are getting at here.

But compelling someone to say or type in a password is something where they could assert the 5th. If the police find the password written down on a piece of paper and then type it in themselves over the protest of the defendant, that is not a 5th amendment violation. That’s just using a piece of physical evidence.

Outrageous. This is taking away the defendant’s rights. Nobody can ever believe that he made this decision if his own free will.

This was my speculation on how I imagine it could possibly happen, as you say you have seen it written about. I have never seen it happen as a condition this way, but if you provide more detail I can be more precise in answering.

But if it is say in another hypothetical, a condition on a deferred sentence, then at that point guilt has already been established and a the deferment is an alternative option from the baseline of prison. Again, some specific links to this happening would really help sort what it is you’re seeing.

You can indeed stay silent. However, if you want the police to stop asking you questions, you have to affirmatively say you are asserting your right. If you just clam up, the cops can keep asking and asking you things. Similar to getting a lawyer- you have the right to a lawyer, but when you are in police custody you aren’t going to get one until you ask for it during the questioning.

Circumstances? Passwords are contents of the mind, and therefore protected under the 5th. Someone in a situation where they are accused or under investigation has the 5th to fall back on.

There have been cases recently about the legality of forcing thumbprints on biometrically locked phones, under the theory that a thumbprint is a physical attribute and not something kept in the mind (so you know, lesson there is to keep using a old fashioned passcode). Otherwise, someone on bond or parole or something may have a condition of their arrangement be to allow their devices to be searched. Refusing that is a matter of breaking an agreement made in court.

7th amendment applies to civil suits.

In the Federal system it does. At the state level, a jury for a particular civil matter is not guaranteed. Judges regularly end up as the finders of fact in state civil cases.

criminal defendants must consent to bench trial

Not always. If the case is not serious enough, a jury trial is not guaranteed. This SCOTUS case found 6 months to be the cutoff for a serious enough crime.

by not contesting any of the facts

A bench trial where no one is contesting the facts can happen, in that case the defendant is probably contesting the constitutionality of the law, so therefore doesn’t need any dispute any of the facts. But, as in the above link, a case may happen where either the defendant is not guaranteed a jury because the punishment falls below the threshold establsihed, or they waive the jury and the judge sits in as the finder of both law and fact.

You may talk to police that way in America but any good lawyer will tell you not to because the strength of the fact that your silence can’t be used against you often will offend out weigh any defense you might argue.

And if you watch enough arraignments, it is just so painful to watch a defendant completely spill the beans even over a judge and lawyer telling them to shut up. So many people really don’t seem to understand that they can’t simply fast talk their way out of charges once the process starts, and everything they say is going to be recorded.

The legal rights come into play exactly when the police come into the picture.

I don’t know all your amendments, but there is a thing like your 5th. just stronger: The accused is free not to help the police in any way. He may say things or remain silent, he needs not to give them things, and they may not create any kind of disadvantage for him from that. Also the court must not interpret this against him. Also spouse and family are not required to help or testify.

All of these are included in the 5th (except for subpoena of non-spouse family, but as a practical matter prosecution has a hard time forcing an unwilling family member to testify in any useful way), and on top of it the Miranda warning requirement exists to inform people of the rights. A lot of people just have a really, really difficult time shutting their mouths even when told to.

Here judges decide matters of law not fact.

Eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…judges decide fact all the time in civil cases, or in criminal bench trials.

I can’t estimate a number, but yes something like this would be considered very valuable to certain collectors, if it even still exists.

A highly specific variant with unique design choices along the evolutionary path towards what has become standard. FW regularly covers lesser known AR-15 variants and derivatives.

It’s notable how identifiably the gun on the page is drawn as a KSG. Outside of “gun focused” comics like The Punisher, comicbook guns have a habit of being wonky unidentifiable models.

For something that large and with such largely sculpted details, I’d probably just spray paint over it without stripping.

The paint may end up a little more susceptible to wear than if you strip it, but this is a display piece not a tabletop piece so I imagine it won’t get handled nearly as much or as roughly.